Life-raft



(ModeL) T. HALL. Life Raft.

Patented June 7,1881.

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N. PETERS. Pholo-Lilhogmphor. Washington. D. C.

NITED STATES PATENT ()FFIGEQ THOMAS HALL, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LIFE-RAFT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 242,448, dated June '7,1881.

Application filed July 14, 1880. (Model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS HALL, of Newton,Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful ImprovementinLife-Rafts,of which the following is a specification The object of myinvention is the saving of life at sea; and it consists, mainly, of adouble float or raft made of cork, wood, air-tubes, or otherlight andbuoyautmaterials, of such form or shape that they may be fitted orattached to the outside of a boat of the kind now in common use, andcarried on board ships and steamboats.

The rafts or floats are usually made in two parts, one being placed oneach side of the boat, to which they are secured by suitable fixturesand lashings, as represented in the drawings hereto annexed, and makinga part of this specification.

When the parts of the raft ale united they form a cradle or holder inwhich the boat rests, and the curved ends of the rafts are nearly incontact with each other at the bow and stern. I prefer to make the raftof such materials as can most readily be made to conform to the shape ofthe boat, but straight cylinders or caissons may be used.

The rafts are alike, and the description given below applies to both ofthem. (Marked in the drawings A A.)

Figure 1 is a top view of the floats, showing the position of aninclosed boat. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the floats orrafts.

The boat inclosed in the space or cradle between the two raftsis shownat B; the thwarts at O; D, the keel; E, the rudder; F, the tiller; P,the painter.

The lower sides of the floats A A, beneath the boat B, may be nearlylevel or straight, the outer sides being rounded and projecting beyondthe sides of the boat, as shown in Fig.

2, the upper edge of the floats being of about the same height as thegunwale R.

A series of small eyebolts, Q, are secured to the gunwale of the boat,carrying suitable cords S, which serve as lashings to hold the floatsfirmly in contact with the boat.

The floats are provided on the upper surface, and at intervalsthroughout their whole length, with one or more rows of rings, V V, andthrough these, from the eyebolts,thelashin gs S are rove, and thence arepassed under the bottom of the floats A A, as shown in Fig. 2.Life-lines are rove through and fastened to the rings V.

On board a ship or steamboat the raft and its included boat is carriedon deck or hung from the davits in the usual manner, and when launchedit takes the water without danger of upsetting. The boat may be filledwith peo ple, and the life-lines will support a large number of thosewho are in the water, both being used simply for floating, or thelashings S S may be cut and the floats detached from the boat, which canthen be rowed, with its passengers, to any desired point, and return totake off those who are clinging to the floats and their attachedlife-lines.

What I claim is A cradle or holder, of cork or other buoyant material,in two parts, which, when placed lengthwise together, have between thema centralcavity or recess of the same form as a boat, and within whichcavity a boat may rest, held by suitable ropes or lashings, andsupported in an upright position, substantially as herein described.

THOMAS HALL. [L. s.]

In presence of- W. P. BRINLEY, FREDK. TURNER.

